Raw Energy Records was a Canadian independent record label, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The music label was established in the late 1980s by founder entrepreneur and music journalist Graeme Boyce,[1] initially to distribute the debut EP by King Apparatus, Loud Party.[1] Prior to launching Raw Energy, Boyce was a staff writer for RPM.[1]
The label subsequently released King Apparatus' full-length debut album in 1990; after selling over 5,000 copies of the album in just a handful of record stores in downtown Toronto, the label secured a national distribution deal with A&M Records.[1] The company expanded over the years, and launched new divisions to manage growth, such as Raw Energy Promotions and Raw Energy Radio.
Canadian artists who released Raw Energy albums included King Apparatus, King Cobb Steelie, Dinner Is Ruined, Random Killing, Trunk, Marilyn's Vitamins, Five Knuckle Chuckle, Three Impotent Males, Throbbin‘ Hoods, Out of Hand, Cut Off, Double Standard, DNS, and Sectorseven. Raw Energy also released product from two U.S. acts, The Toasters and Rosie O'Shea. Grouped into the alternative genre, augmenting its roster of punk and ska, the label released a rap album from Top Secret and a noise album from Space City USA.
In 1993, Raw Energy released its first compilation, simply titled Raw Energy. Because of the cartoon drawing used on the cover, it quickly took on the name On the Road within the hardcore community. Raw Energy played on this to release a series of "On the Road" compilations, featuring unsigned and emerging Canadian punk, hardcore and alternative rock bands du jour. Some would end up signing with Raw Energy.
The series of "On the Road" compilations includes:
Raw Energy (aka On the Road, 1993)
On the Road Again (1994)
Dead on the Road: Songs Without Keyboards (1994)
On the Road to New York City (1994)
On the Road to Amsterdam (1999)
On the Road... with a Snowboard (1999)
Other compilations include Twentybandcomp, co-released with Shock Records in Australia.
